#Disney+ Sets Release Date for Hitman Anime Series ‘The Fable’

Disney+ has revealed the release date for the next title on its growing slate of Japanese anime. The hitman series The Fable, based on the best-selling manga of the same name, will launch worldwide on the streaming service on April 7. The show is the latest anime title released via Disney’s partnership with Japanese publishing powerhouse Kodansha, the home of some of Japan’s most iconic manga IP, including titles like AKIRA, Attack on Titan and Ghost in the Shell. 

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Luke Kang, Disney’s president of the Asia Pacific region, spoke of anime’s continually growing global popularity and said that producing more content in the category was Disney’s main priority for the Japanese market. The Fable will also air in Japan on Nippon TV, but Disney holds the exclusive worldwide streaming rights. 

The original The Fable manga was written and illustrated by Katsuhisa Minami and ran in Japan’s Weekly Young Magazine from 2014 to 2019 with tens of millions of copies sold. The adaptation is animated by Tezuka Productions and directed by anime industry veteran Ryōsuke Takahashi.

The series follows a legendary killer for hire called “Fable” who has spent his entire life training to become the world’s best assassin. Famed within the underworld for his skillset, Fable knows nothing except how to deliver a quick death. After finishing off the year with more confirmed kills than ever before, Fable suddenly finds himself at a loss when the head of his crime family orders him to lay low and not kill anyone for a year. Suddenly uprooted, moved to Osaka and surrounded by trigger-happy criminals, Fable will be forced to control his temperament and adapt to the ordinary if he wants to survive.

The Fable features voice performance by an array of anime industry favorites: Kazuyuki Okitsu (Metallic Rouge, Gintama) as Fable/Akira Sato; Miyuki Sawashiro (Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger, Kamen Rider Decade) as Yoko Sato; Kana Hanazawa (Your Name, The Garden of Words), as Misaki Shimizu; Akio Otsuka (Ghost in the Shell, One Piece) as Takeshi Ebihara; Kenjiro Tsuda (Yi Yi, Golden Kamuy) as Kojima; Tetsuo Komura (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Little Witch Academia) as Boss; and Jun Fukushima (Undead Unluck, Goblin Slayer) as Jackal Tomioka. The Fable is adapted for the screen by Yuya Takashima (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury) and Mayumi Morita (Goddess Café Terrace).